By Children’s Librarian Shelley Harris
July is Disability Pride Month! It’s been celebrated since 1990, when President HW Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) on July 26, though many non-disabled people have not heard of it.
Disability Pride Month means different things to different people: honoring early activists, recognizing that their disability is intrinsic to themselves, celebrating disability visibility in public spaces, and more.
Andrew Gurza, disabled disability awareness consultant, explains it in a post on Instagram: “For me, it means that I am proud to have conversations about disability that are my honest truth; and to talk about body stuff that most of us keep to ourselves. I am proud to say ‘I hate my disability today,’ and be able to share that honestly, alongside moments where I say, ‘Being disabled is great.’ Being able to tell both sides of that story makes me proud to be disabled.”
Every July, we explore disabled experiences by learning from the experts: disabled people. It’s an opportunity for disabled people to find their community, and for everyone to learn about experiences, thoughts, and feelings they haven’t encountered.
Below, find videos and programs for early learners, as well as books and more resources for caregivers.
Watch these videos
When you’re watching a video I’ve made about disabilities, you’re learning from a disabled person! I am neurodivergent, with a diagnosis of ADHD, and chronically ill with psoriatic arthritis. I take medication, including injections to suppress my immune system. I spent a lot of time listening to and learning from people with the same disabilities as well as others.
In this video, I talk about disabilities as a normal part of life.
Here I highlight a great board book that normalizes different ways of eating, including due to disabilities!
Supported programs for kids
We also host regular children’s classes for disabled kids all year round, including storytime. Register now »
Learn from disabled people
The best way to learn about disabilities and unlearn ableism—the intentional or unintentional bias against disabled people and the accommodations they need to function independently in society—is to listen to what disabled people are saying, not their families, friends, caregivers, or educators, but disabled people.
Books to read
- Emily Ladau’s Demystifying Disability: What to Know, What to Say, and How to Be an Ally is a book of essays from a wide variety of disabled people.
- Alice Wong’s Disability Visibility is another book of essays with a wide variety of experiences.
- Judy Heumann was the mother of the modern disability rights movement. The work she did before her very recent death is immense. We’re lucky she wrote her autobiography, Being Heumann: An Unrepentant Memoir of a Disability Rights Activist, before she passed.
Social media to follow
Follow hashtags to see what disabled people think, experience, and get frustrated by. These tags are for non-disabled people to read, not to use when posting: #DisabilityAblesplained, #DisabilityTwitterTaughtMe, #AutisticJoy, #AbledsAreWeird, #ItsAccessibleBut, and #DisabilityPride.
Resources to explore
Check out these resources we’ve created at the library, such as:
- Celebrating disability awareness with books and activities,
- Resources for autistic people and caregivers,
- Information on augmentative and alternative communication and Down Syndrome, and
- Local, state, and national resources for a wide variety of disabilities.
About Shelley
Shelley is a children’s librarian with a passion for early literacy, serving and celebrating the disability community, and exploring technology. She can often be found practicing storytime songs with her black lab, Bingo.